


Canary

by CyberQueens



Series: Smoaking Canary One-Shots [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/F, Female Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-08
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-31 21:54:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1036796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberQueens/pseuds/CyberQueens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before leaving Starling City, Sara makes one last stop. Spoilers for 2x05 'League of Assassins'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Canary

Sitting cross-legged on her living room floor, Felicity hummed a tune for herself as she took apart one of her laptops, in hopes of fixing that pesky little wiring problem she had noticed – well, she  _was_  going to fix it, obviously; no tangled wire had ever defeated her.

Not that getting one of her – regretfully underused – babies back to top shape was a priority, but she was given a night off from her sidekick duties, and she wanted to use it to clear her head; nothing cleared her head better than some old-fashioned tech-work.

Her humming turned into a sigh.

Sara Lance was leaving. Not that Felicity had been expecting her to stick around, or join the team, or anything like that – nope, definitely not. Oh, who was she kidding? She would have loved to count the other woman among her crime-fighting partners.

She didn't know her all that well, obviously – almost not at all – but she still would have liked to see her stay.

A knock on the door startled her, and the screwdriver she held flew from her hand – along with a very undignified yelp that bubbled from her mouth.

She waited a beat and the knock came again, making her rise to her feet cautiously. She tiptoed over to the peephole, cast a look outside, and blinked.  _Sara_.

Her hand went to the deadlock then the handle of its own volition, and she swung the door wide open. She was greeted by Sara's slight smile. "Hey," she said. "Sorry to drop by unannounced." She waited a beat. "Can I come in?"

Felicity blinked some more, then stepped aside. "Of course." Sara stepped forward and Felicity noted the way her eyes flittered over every inch of the place; whether it was born of instinct to scour for possible enemies or just plain curiosity, Felicity couldn't really tell.

She already had the deadbolt back in place when something occurred to her. "How did you know where I live?" she asked, prompting Sara to turn and face her; her smile grew wider.

"I was part of the League of Assassins," Sara said simply. "Looking up an address is really not outside my area of expertise."

"Right," Felicity mumbled, shaking her head and letting out a short laugh. "So…what brings you by? Do you…need help with something?" She lowered her voice as she added, "With disappearing?"

Sara's own features turned more solemn. "I know how to disappear," she said.

Felicity nodded slightly. "Like a ghost in the night, right?" she remembered Digg's words about the League; they were all ghosts, and they came and vanished like shadows in the darkness.

Sara's eyes went to the window. "It's very fitting. I am a ghost, and…I will run off into the night."

"Do you have to?" Felicity blurted out, and immediately groaned at her lack of filter. Sara didn't seem to mind.

"It's the only way to keep my family safe," she said. "I have to stick to the shadows…for their sake."

Felicity understood that; she still didn't like it, though.

She cleared her throat. "Well, if…if you don't need my help with anything…uh…why are you here?"

Sara tipped her head to the side. "I wanted to say goodbye." Before Felicity could properly gather her bearings, Sara went on. "Could I stay a while? I have a few hours to kill before I leave."

"Sure," Felicity agreed slowly, feeling somewhat off-kilter. "Uh…" Another round of clearing her throat. "I was – I was working on something, actually…but it can wait if…well, you know – I mean, you can just sit back and relax and…like, we don't have to talk or anything – "

She was cut short by Sara's soft bout of laughter. "What were you working on?" she asked, choosing to ignore the better part of Felicity's babble.

Taking a breath, Felicity gestured to the mess of computer hardware on the floor. "Issues with wiring," she explained, retaking her previous position on the carpet; Sara took some steps closer. "I'm trying to sort it out."

"I could help," Sara offered, and Felicity couldn't help but raise her eyebrow.

"How, exactly?" Sara may be a ninja, and a certified badass, and she may pretty much set the standard for all aspiring assassins, but Felicity was sure computers were not her strong suit.

To confirm her thoughts, Sara pursed her lips then clucked her tongue. "Well," she said, bending down to pick up the screwdriver that lay on the floor, "if anyone comes here and attacks us, I can kill them with this screwdriver."

Felicity snorted. "Okay," she allowed, patting the ground. "Make yourself comfortable."

Sara lowered herself to the floor opposite Felicity, handing her the screwdriver.

There was silence for a time after that, as Felicity worked and Sara only observed with what seemed to be curiosity.

Felicity nearly jumped out her skin when the silence was broken.

"So," Sara began, having finished chuckling at Felicity's impersonation of a frightened rabbit, "I've been meaning to ask…how did you become a part of Ollie's team?"

"Ah, the great story of how I joined Team Arrow…"

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Team Arrow?"

"It's what I call us," Felicity clarified, then bit her lip. "Don't tell Oliver it's what I call us."

Smiling, Sara nodded. "You have my word," she promised. "So…feel like sharing? Ollie didn't tell me much."

Felicity shrugged. "I know it may seem a little weird, for someone like me to join this kind of team, but – "

"It's not weird at all," Sara interjected, making Felicity blink in surprise. "I think you're  _exactly_  the kind of person who belongs in a team like yours," she explained, then seemed to turn wistful. "You, and Digg, and Ollie…you make a great team. Watching you, I…I almost felt envy."

Well, that was a startling admission. Felicity didn't poke further, waiting for Sara to continue on her own time. She had to admit, though; she was curious as hell.

After a moment, Sara went on, her eyes growing somewhat unfocused. "I spent four years with the League and…in a way, they were a team, too –  _my_  team. But at the end of the day, we were all still lone wolves…and until I watched you three work, I thought that was the only way a team could operate." She brought her eyes back to Felicity's, and smiled. "But you proved me wrong. And now I want what you have…that kind of team."

Felicity bit her lip. "You could, you know – have it, I mean," she said quietly. "Say the word, and we'll be throwing you a welcome bash." She tried to tamper the hopefulness in her tone; regretfully, without much success.

"That's sweet," Sara told her softly, "but I have to get as far away from Starling City as I can." She took a deep breath then, and to Felicity, it looked like she was physically trying to shake away her sadness; it made her own grow exponentially. "So," Sara reiterated, "what's your story, Felicity?"

With a sigh, Felicity obliged. She started at the beginning, with a bullet-riddled laptop and a terrible cover-story, followed it with the magnificent tales of even worse cover-stories and a bleeding surprise in her backseat – as it happened, bloodstains were  _not_  covered under her lease – and finished the longwinded and unnecessarily animated account with a shrug.

"Even after we found Mr. Steele," she concluded, "I couldn't leave. I didn't want to. So, here I am."

Sara had listened intently from start to finish, and now had a soft smile playing on her lips. "You make me want to start a team of my own," she mused.

"Why don't you?"

The simple question seemed to take Sara by surprise; after a moment, she gave a small nod. "Perhaps I will," she said. "I've…been to many places, whether it was on the job or on the run…I've met some interesting people." She cocked her head to the side, querying, "And if I were to form a team…would you join me?"

It was not often that Felicity was left speechless; this was one of those rare occasions. Sara waited her out.

"I – I'm…I'm flattered – honored, really – but…"

"But you can't leave Ollie and Digg," Sara finished for her, and Felicity cautiously nodded; it didn't seem to put Sara off in the slightest.

"You're loyal," she observed. "It's very admirable."

Blushing was the only way to respond to that kind of compliment.

Sara proceeded. "Still…if you ever get tired of an all-boys club, even just for a while…I'm sure you'll find a way to let me know."

Felicity grinned from ear to ear. "I will." Then, a stray thought crossed her mind. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask…you have a tattoo," she recalled, "of a canary. On your side. What's the story there?"

Consciously or not, Sara's hand came to rest on her ribs, and her fingers rubbed absentmindedly where Felicity knew her tattoo was. "I had to choose a name," she said, "when I joined the League. And I chose Canary."

"Why?"

Sara shrugged. "I had a canary when I was a kid – a black one. And…and then, there was another one I saw…it was there when it shouldn't have been…and on the day everything changed for me. It seemed fitting."

Felicity narrowed her eyes in thought. "I don't know…" she mused. "A canary seems too…" She struggled for the right word. " _Tame_."

Now, Sara seemed intrigued.

"I mean," Felicity went on to clarify, "you don't look like a chirpy little ball of feathers to me." She pursed her lips. "More like a bird of prey."

"Who says I can't be both?" Sara countered with a smile, and after a moment, Felicity mirrored it; she really liked Sara.

Which made her leaving suck even more.

As if she had glimpsed into her line of thinking, Sara glanced at the clock which hung at the apartment's far wall. "It's time for me to go."

Felicity drew a deep breath as she lowered her eyes to the dismantled computer before her; this sucked.

Slowly, Sara rose to her feet and with another sigh, Felicity followed suit – though with considerably less grace, she was not above admitting. When she righted herself, the sight that greeted her was of Sara's outstretched hand. With a smile, Felicity shook it.

They may be saying goodbye in the dead of night, but Felicity was certain this was not the last she had seen of Sara Lance – even if the situation required she may need to make certain of it herself.

 

**Author's Note:**

> The tattoo is, obviously, me tweaking canon for my own purposes.


End file.
